New Haven Independent

Posted by: cedarhillresident | April 3, 2008 8:43 AM

Cam I have a renewed faith in you!! THANK YOU!! At least someone is working for the WHOLE city not just one community!! I bow down to you!! HAIL Cam!!
Question who do we but the screws to.... to make this happen?
Jeff can we get your update on the budget meetings?? Are they approaching this years budget better than they did last years??

A side note:
Sen. William Nickerson please you have no clue!! Sorry but that man just gets under my skin! He is just there to protect the "daddy war bucks" of the state!!

Posted by: Gary Doyens | April 3, 2008 9:54 AM

"The gap in PILOT funding is responsible for a $9.5 million hole in New Haven's city budget."

This statement is not correct. The budget hole is the result of City Hall overspending - new debt, new programs, new employees, new expansions of existing programs - it just never ends.

I hope the PILOT program by Staples fails. Sean Mattison said it best: "It will be like Christmas." The result will be richer union contracts, no sacrifice, no tax relief for citizens, and all the overspending will continue. Between last year's spending spree and the budget proposed for next year - City Hall - Mattison, Smuts and DeStefano have signed on to more than $50 million in new or expanded spending. No lessons learned. Next year, we'll be right back where we are now.

One final note: It always amazes me how people like Staples can find some new target, some chink in the public, to overtax in order to fuel the overspending. Delivery services - those big, bad multi-national companies and their evil corporate customers which provide jobs and speed commerce in Connecticut are just the latest to be caught in his crosshairs.

Posted by: Esbe | April 3, 2008 10:38 AM

Yeah! Bravo to Rep. Staples, who knows how to look out for the city that he represents. Cedarhill has the right question -- what can New Haven residents do to help move this forward? Who do we call?

Posted by: Ned | April 3, 2008 10:48 AM

"Who do we call?" - Maria Montez!

Posted by: Esbe | April 3, 2008 11:09 AM

Gary -- now you have lost me altogether. Staples is operating on exactly the right principle:

"We recognize the need to redistribute state funds to where services are rendered ... "

If you want to identify what you think is real waste, that's fine, but if you don't recognive the real needs we have for cops, better schools, functional public parks and economic development, then you have no support from me.

If, on principle, you want to go on some anti-spending, anti-waste crusade, please start by picking on all the swimming pools, fancy rec centers, city beaches and so forth that the suburbs spend taxpayer money on. Those suburbs in turn expect the cities to bear all the costs of the all social ills in the state.

77%/45% PILOT funding is still far from the 100% tax revenue that private economic activity generates for the suburbs. Let's propose that Woodbridge collect only 77% or 45% of the property tax due on all the 2-acre properties of all the doctors and professors who live there but work at tax-exempt employers in New Haven. Then you will get a quick reaction from the state legislature!

Posted by: Gary Doyens | April 3, 2008 12:00 PM

ESBE: First, if City Hall spent money wisely and was remotely frugal or smart with what they have, I'd agree with you. If they were only a little careless with their resources, that's forgiveable. But time and again - the DeStefano braintrust comes up woefully and blindingly short. It still buys Crystal Rock water; spent $300,000 on each of 5 bus shelters; provides double digit payraises for the mayor and senior administrators; doesn't bid out its insurance in years; doesn't protect its credit rating so we get the best bond rates; sells off assets year after year to plug budget holes created by their inability to live within the approved budget; police overtime out of control; keeps senior centers open even when they consistently have a low census. The list goes on and on.

Secondly - The state already provides 50% of the cost to operate New Haven - if the city wasn't spending money so fast, the percentage would be even higher as it has been in past years. The state also provided the vast majority of the $1.5 billion in new schools; the state is providing funds for the garage at the train station; Gateway Community College relocation; the state provided the money the train stop, Art and Ideas and on and on.

Are you serious that the "state" isn't doing enough? That's a crock.

What you and others are doing is fomenting class warfare always blaming the suburds for problems that are uniquely New Haven. How much money do the suburbs send to the state? A lot. How much do they get back? Pitiful incremental amounts. In fact, the formula that pays communities for education routinely screws non-large city school districts not by a little, by a lot. Some communities are bearing a 80 - 90% burden of school costs. Who gets the mass transit? Cities. Who was wired first with the CEN network? Cities.

By the way, "the state" is all of us but "the state" finds ever more intersting nooks and crannies to tax us to death while crying that young people don't stay, that businesses don't thrive, that retirees don't remain here. "The state" is driving them all out which then contributes to lower homeownership, lower tax base and rising poverty. It's a vortex to hell and New Haven City Hall rides along cheering wildly.

Posted by: Leave Gary Doyans alone | April 3, 2008 12:11 PM

Come on Esbe, you should know by now that Gary basis his opinions on things based upon hating taxes of all kinds, hating John DeStefano, hating spending even when it is on things that make New Haven the type of place he says he wanted to move to in order avoid the boring suburbs. He's a typical CAVEman (Citizen Against Virtually Everything - a special thanks to alderman Lemar for providing me with this term last week, I've used it 5 times since!)

Posted by: facChek | April 3, 2008 12:20 PM

Esbe:

With the exception of Gary's statement that "he hopes PILOT fails".
I otherwise agree with him.
Your references to swimming pools, fancy rec centers beaches in the suburbs and wood bridge, is not germane to the point Gary makes.

His point, and I could not agree more is:

"The result will be richer union contracts, no sacrifice, no tax relief for citizens, and all the overspending will continue. Between last year's spending spree and the budget proposed for next year - City Hall - Mattison, Smuts and DeStefano have signed on to more than $50 million in new or expanded spending. No lessons learned. Next year, we'll be right back where we are now".

In the previous 11 years our general fund spending alone has gone from 302.549M in 1998 to 465.994M proposed today. As a side note I would add, with no appreciable improvement in services.

City residents enjoy even less, making the same complaints concerning community policing, street and leaf pick-up, rude city hall employees, that is, if they pick up the phone at all. The funding of community programs which do not alleviate anything. Much less poverty, test scores and the measured under performance in the city schools.

Just to mention a few.

What it boils down to, I believe, is that increased spending over the last 11 years, did not equate to improved performance and improved quality of life in New Haven.

New Haven must begin to reorganize it's priorities, and change the way we consistently do things that are merely status- quo and under productive for the citizens as a whole.

In terms of the Pilot, the State should and must be held accountable for it's commitments.
The idea of a penny sales tax was a desperate measure and would have been detrimental to New Haven's welfare.

Posted by: Esbe | April 3, 2008 12:53 PM

Gary,

-- New Haven's problems are not "unique," they are shared (and even worse) in other nearby cities, as well as in most other cities across the nation.

-- Suburbs generate so much tax revenue because they flourish on a combination of [i] massive government subsidies to highway transportation (allowing long commutes and sprawling retail) and [ii] the massive application of governmental regulatory authority (zoning) that simply outlaws most revenue-negative activity. If there is economic class warfare going on here, is it not directed by cities towards suburbs.

-- In fact, though, discussing state and local public finance in the context of the differences between cities and suburbs in the nation's wealthiest state is not "class warfare" at all, it is "rational debate."

Posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS | April 3, 2008 1:01 PM

Jeff Kerekes, don't lose your cred by going over to the dark side.

Gary Doyens is right as usual - New Haven's deficit is due to horrendous spending decisions, not a lack of state funding.

And who do you think pays for PILOT in the end?

Posted by: cedarhillresident | April 3, 2008 2:44 PM

FIX THE SCHOOLS
We may pay the the PILOT in the end but surrounding city's also chip in on the funding! Which is something New Haven lacks "regional support" for the jobs and resources New Haven creates for them.

Posted by: jeffreykerekes | April 3, 2008 3:13 PM

Regarding the Dark Side. I have spent a lot of time looking at the budget and making recommendations for cuts and I believe we are the only organized group focusing on the expense side of the budget. We have a list here and here with things to cut from the budget. I am against all the waste in the budget, including patronage, sweetheart deals, $175/hour to remove snow, unsustainable subsidies (even when we try to call it management fees).

That being said, I am also for providing services to people including the poor, disabled, the elderly as long as these services do not enable unsustainable behaviors (I can be more specific at another time). I like that we provide homeless shelters, soup kitchens and special education (I could say a whole lot more on how we are doing this wrong and for too much money). I like "free" city parks, concerts on the green, and making New Haven a place to attract and retain people and businesses.

The question is, of course, how to do this in a balanced way. We, as stated many times above, provide regional services in a variety of capacities from non-profit services to professional jobs. These services benefit people in the suburbs and throughout the region. I personally know people who travel far to get healthcare here in New Haven. People come here from across the state and other states for treatment at Yale, for example. This is a benefit to the region from which we do not necessarily receive direct financial benefits. I believe then, that it is the job of the State to support these activities. PILOT is the structure by which we do that here in Connecticut. Other States use regional governments (County Governments) to redistribute money. Here we use PILOT. I support bringing in more money from the State (my other pocket) to fund things here in New Haven.

Personally, I think that if we do not use these new funds to reduce debt, to pay off our IOUs, we will be in the same position financially. We need to vigorously cut waste whether or not we bring in more money. I am uncertain whether we can do it without PILOT since we are in a dazzling amount of debt and unfunded liabilities. So it is necessary to be in support of a redistribution of tax dollars to cities as well as supporting efforts to ferret out waste, patronage, sweetheart deals, underperforming programs and services and hold all of our elected officials accountable for every penny they spend of our money. That is why when I speak about the budget I speak about the full budget (General Fund, Special Funds and Capital Projects) and not minimize the fact that our elected officials are spending $650 M this year and not just $465 M.

If you believe that we need to be cutting money from the budget, you need to be making the time to get to the Board Of Aldermen Finance Committee meetings. I have been there at these meetings and there is often only one other member of the public. The BOA and Mayor therefore think no one is interested in this topic. Get the schedule of meetings here and come. You can sit next to me as the seat has been empty.

Posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS | April 3, 2008 5:43 PM

Jeffrey,

Your work is promising. We need a group like yours. But you haven't gone nearly far enough. Don't be co-opted by the program-a-holics.

Your decision to lobby for PILOT was premature. Before you have peeled back the layers of the spending onion, you just don't have a full appreciation of the enormous level of the political patronage pork in New Haven.

Gary Doyens is right when he points out that increasing or maintaining PILOT only encourages the worst kind of fiscal management.

The only way to ultimately solve the core problem is to drain DeStefano's swamp.

CEDARHILL - Wake up. Do you really think the balance of trade between urban taxpayers and suburban taxpayers is in their favor? Why would any suburban taxpayer want one dime of their taxes to go to a $300 million+ mismanaged school system which fails the majority of its students?

First, you have to FIX THE SCHOOLS. Show suburbia that their taxes aren't continuing to subsidize massive failure and corruption.

Posted by: Esbe | April 3, 2008 9:33 PM

Jeffrey -- well argued. I don't agree with every point in your linked documents, but your overall approach is balanced and adds greatly to the discussion in New Haven.

Fix the schools -- I don't see how opposing the PILOT funds is going to fix the schools, although we probably actually agree on much of what ought to be down to actually fix the schools.

While we argue about PILOT funds, we should all remember that this is just one particularly well-functioning legislative committee, I don't know if this actually has any chance of making into the final budget.

Posted by: Andy Ross | April 3, 2008 9:52 PM

Jeff, I will gladly attend more meetings. I have been away on business. I agree with you, we need to start cutting into some of the debt and reduce this swollen budget if we are ever going to see our way to lower property taxes.

If we are paying $175.00 per hour for snow hauling what else do we over pay for? This reminds me of when Al Gore went on a budget hunt when Clinton first came into office and he found the United States paying $1,200.00 for a $2.99 hardware store hammer.

It may be painful and tedious task, but I am willing to bet that we can pull this budget part and find several millions of dollars in squander that no one would miss, except the thieves taking it from the city with no conscious.

Posted by: Ned | April 4, 2008 7:36 AM

Is anyone else pissed off about the city spending tax money on "draw[ing] young families to Christ"?

Posted by: eastshoreguy | April 4, 2008 8:06 AM

Gary Doyens -

In the past you have made sense - at times. But dude when you said, "I hope the PILOT program by Staples fails" you lost me.

Why would you be against fully funding pilot and returnin our dollars from Hartford?

Are you insane? I get it you don't like DeStefano - fine. But wishing for something bad is just meanspirited. I do not want my taxes to rise nor do i want any services cut. So what do you want?

Oh thats right . . . .you want it all but dont want to pay for anything.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | April 4, 2008 8:28 AM

FIX THE SCHOOLS

First, Pilots replace property tax for exempt buildings in the city... Non profits..schools (including Yale univ.), Hospitals and divisions of the hospital... not just community schools... so yes considering a good percentage of the city's property is over runned by tax exempt property's I as a homeowner and tax pay want it all payed!

Second suburbia is not paying for the local schools they are paying for all the jobs our other exempt property's afford them... the road repairs for there commuting, the garbage they through on the street, the police that come to incidents and accidents ect. ect.

I came to new haven because of the good schools and programs! They problem is the lack of parental involvement!! Unless you get parents of failing and troubled kids to give a crap instead of making excuse after excuse, the system will never work!!

Now I am not saying that some tweeks need to happen but stop the excuses!! It is not the schools it is social and economic problem that the parents face which lead to there lack of caring or trying to push there children to do better. You fix that you fix the schools.

OHHH I'm getting yelled at for that comment

Posted by: Bruce | April 4, 2008 9:14 AM

PILOT needs to be fully funded -- it's only fair. But...Gary is right that spending is the real problem. I know some folks have scoured the budget looking for ways to trim here and there, but we are in emergency mode. Taxes are so ridiculously high that the city is struggling to keep people from moving out. Taxes will keep growing and people will keep moving out.

Trimming the budget will not help. They need to CUT JOBS. Lots of them. Slow down the school building program (if it's not too late). Redefine what is "necessary" and get rid of everything else. No concerts on the green. No airport. Cut the LCI and city plan dept in half. Once taxes go down to a reasonable rate (maybe 1/2 of what they are now), people will start moving back in and we will be able to afford these luxuries.

Posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS | April 4, 2008 10:00 AM

Cedarhill, you're right, you are going to get yelled at!!!

WHICH DO YOU THINK WILL BE EASIER TO ACCOMPLISH?

1. ASKING/FORCING ADULTS, MANY OF WHOM THEMSELVES HAVE VERY LITTLE FORMAL EDUCATION AND HAVE VERY FEW RESOURCES, TO SUDDENLY BECOME GREAT ROLE MODELS AND RESPONSIBLE PARENTS?

OR

2) ELECTING A MAYOR WHO WILL REPLACE THE CURRENT SUPERINTENDENT WITH A REAL EDUCATION LEADER WHO HAS A DEMONSTRATED TRACK RECORD OF DRAMATICALLY INCREASING STUDENT OUTCOMES IN SOME OF THE TOUGHEST COMMUNITIES IN SPITE OF LOW PARENTAL PARTICIPATION?

Now I'll stop yelling. In reality, if you start with #2, you will also start to see progress on #1 as the community buys into the reforms and people band together to support under-resourced families. It doesn't happen today because this mayor and Supt. don't believe that our community is capable of doing any better. They believe that once you're poor, you stay poor - unless someone takes care of you (The city, Yale, the union) If they did believe in transformational power of a good education, then they would fight like hell to raise the bar.

Posted by: Your Tax Dollars at Work | April 4, 2008 11:41 AM

How about a little real world charter reform? To start:

1. A non-partisan, smaller, more responsible, adequately compensated legislative body. Replace BOA with a 12 person City Council, elected for 4 year terms.

2. Mayor - also non-partisan also 4 year term.

3. City accounts, reports presented and audited according to GAAP rules.

4. Top mayoral appointees (aides) confirmed by City Council.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | April 4, 2008 3:32 PM

FIX THE SCHOOLS

Still luv ya....

"REPLACE THE CURRENT SUPERINTENDENT WITH A REAL EDUCATION LEADER"

This I agree on 100% and to be honest it should not be just the mayor who chooses this person there should a few more hoops to jump threw to get this jobs!

And the last part of your comment....I am sure that there are some people that do believe that which is sad. But how many people that are there believe it to. Again this is were parents need to be re-educated. And as far as Amastad... I know some kids there that are FAR!!! from angels...Real Far so no school is perfect...School is for 3 things Reading, writing, and rithmatic! Not babysitting! Yes the do have some obligations to the kids from bad homes but some homes are just LAZY parents that think it is the schools job to raise there kids. And it is the schools fault not there because their kids are running the streets at 11 at night. Are we enabling this??? Really... has the school system become the excuse for lazy parents.... now don't get me wrong these children do not deserve this at all!! I am sure they are the reason for all the things you are fighting for which is good. But are the ideas on the table the right kind?

Posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS | April 4, 2008 5:15 PM

CedarHill,

It is easier to educate children the first time than it is to re-educate parents. Where have you ever seen widespread "re-education" for parents/adults?

Urban public education is really, really tough to do well - but in the last ten years we now know that it's possible. This we see from schools like Amistad. But it's not just Amistad, it's lots of schools around the country (KIPP, Green Dot, Uncommon Schools)that are operating at scale. And that's the irony. Here we have a strong mayor who dreams of breaking out of New Haven onto the state or national scene, yet he is blind to the only way he could possibly do that. He doesn't realize that with Yale, Amistad, a supportive state legislature and governor, national interest from people like Bill Gates and Eli Broad, and huge philanthropic potential in this state, he could become the country's "education mayor" by turning his district into THE national model for closing the gap. The gap would close over a 12 years period, but New Haven's success could be widely accepted within as little as 6 years.

Show me a similar model for adult re-education which turns bad parents into great parents and I'll help you bring it to New Haven.

No one said that Amistad creates angels. But that's the point, we need our schools to compensate for the lack of structure in a kid's life. We HAVE to have schools that do lots of the work that the parents can't, or won't do. Don't you see, we have no choice?? Even if we spend $20k per year on each student, we need to break the generational cycle of poverty.

We can't continue to be mired in the blame game against parents. What would you think of a hospital if the physicians on the intensive care ward refused to treat seriously malnourished kids because their parents fed them only junk food? It's the same thing with education! We can't ignore the kids because the parents aren't with the program.

Posted by: Teacher | April 5, 2008 7:43 AM

Cedarhill, you've hit the nail on the head. I believe that parental involvement can do more to improve student success than anything else. See this study by the Educational Testing Service: http://www.ets.org/Media/Education_Topics/pdf/5678_PERCReport_School.pdf.

I wish that New Haven could develop a parental involvement program that reaches all parents. Let us be the groundbreakers! Perhaps a new superintendent would get behind such a program....

Posted by: cedarhillresident | April 5, 2008 10:32 AM

"Where have you ever seen widespread "re-education" for parents/adults?"

Amasad is one of those examples....in a sense. Is it mandatory for the parents to be part of the school, part of there children's education, right? All the schools you mention bring in parent participation. That is what makes the programs work.It restores a sense of pride to a group of citizens that lost it or never had it.

I know of no such program , but dumping tons of cash in a school system on programs that don't work makes no sense. Most of New Haven schools have some of the best programs....which only a few kids take advantage of...kids who's parents are involved in there education.
Most will agree that the problems do fall back on the parents lack of involvement in there children's lives for what ever reason. And the more I am out there the more I am noticing that it is lazy parents. Again there are a small percentage that are really in a bad place and do need that special attention. But 20 Years ago PTO's were filled with parents now a few die hards are at them. The system has become an excuse for parents that do not want to take responsibility for the upbring of there children.

I understand the fight you are part of I think my alderman backs it to. But I am not really sure if that is really the answer. And I am not really sure what is.
A simple fix is mandatory involvement! The question is how do you make that happen? Even if it is small things like requiring parents to meet with the school regularly. That or do full day classes. Which could become costly.

FOR year we have gone in the direction you suggest with know success. These kids need there parents!

Posted by: cedarhillresident | April 6, 2008 9:44 AM

PS Just saw your post "Teacher"...BRAVO... New Haven is famous for all kinds of successful firsts. Lets make this one of them. Get rid of all the tax sucking programs that do not do any thing! And give this idea a shot!

KID WANT THERE PARENTS TO CARE! And it does not matter if it is good or bad attention as long as it is attention..... lets change that to good attention... it will kill two birds with one stone... by helping the kids and helping the parents find pride, goals and a sense of purpose!!